AJE Component of the Month Challenge for October

I was really excited to receive my gorgeous copper clay component from Kristi Bowman.  She managed to get some awesome flame colors in the copper.

 I really wanted a simple design, not to take away from the focal.  The curved shape just screams "bracelet"!!

The gorgeous ruffled lampwork bead is from Mermaid Glass...aren't those colors to die for?

I immediately knew I was going to use this faceted agate that I have been hoarding for a while.  I remember falling in love with the sunset oranges, cream and russets, and was going to make a wire-wrapped necklace of just the agate.  I still have enough, so I might just do that!

The lampwork was an impulse addition.  I knew that I wanted to include that awesome pop of indigo blue in my piece, but wasn't sure how for a while. I had tried several other beads to bring out the blue...some of my enamel (couldn't get the color just right)....some Czech glass (mmm, no).  I saw this beauty from Mermaid Glass and my heart skipped a beat.

I had originally wanted to make a special link for the clasp from Cindy Wimmer's new book, The Missing Link (fabulous, by the way, and if you don't have it, you need to get it!).  Since I was trying to stay simple and was running a bit behind, I decided on the big wire-wrapped loop that I flattened and textured a bit.  I then used a balled headpin to wrap the ruffle, and then added a swirled hook clasp.

I have to say, I love the way this feels on and I love that the somewhat eclectic color combo evokes something deep in me!

Thanks, Kristi, for creating such a fun and unique Component of the Month!  Go take a look and see what the rest of our team and this month's guest bloggers created!  Happy Wednesday!

Guests

Kym Hunter Designs
MiShel Designs

AJE Team Members
Jennifer Cameron Glass Addictions
Lesley Watt Gossiping Goddess
Kristen Stevens My Bead Journey
Caroline Dewison Blueberri Beads
Jenny Davies-Reazor 
Melissa Meman 
Rebekah Payne Tree Wing Studio
Francesca Watson
Kristi Bowman Design
Sue Kennedy

June Component of the Month Reveal - Summer Blossoms

Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month for June was sweet, little organic ceramic charms by Jenny Davies-Reazor.  Aren't these pretty?

I asked for a surprise, and got some pretty yellow ones.  I must admit, I didn't decide what I was going to make with these for quite a while.  After posting yesterday on AJE about my affinity towards complementary colors purple and yellow, I had an idea.

I layered some enameled flowers onto oval filigree components, then dangled the charms beneath! Pretty summery blossoms for your ears!

Thanks, Jenny, for contributing such fun components! Now go and visit all the other wonderful creations!


Guest artists: 

Leah - http://beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.com

Elisabeth - http://beadsforbusygals.blogspot.com

Jean - http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com

Sarajo - http://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

The AJE Team
Jennifer Cameron -  http://glassaddictions.com/
Jenny Davies-Reazor  -  http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog 
Susan Kennedy  -  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig -   http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/
Melissa Meman   -  http://melissameman.blogspot.com/ (you are here!)
Rebekah Payne  -  http://www.treewingsstudio.com/
Jo Tinley  -   http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/
Lesley Watt  -   http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/
Francesca Watson  - http://www.francescawatson.com
Diana Ptaszinski   - http://www.vintagebluestudio.typepad.com/
Kristi Bowman -  http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com
Kristen Stevens  - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

May Component of the Month, featuring SueBeads!

It is that time of the month for Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month blog hop!  It seems that I am only getting the chance to blog when I have a challenge deadline, lately!  I was able to sneak in a more personal one yesterday, sharing some photos of my boys, though.

This month, our lovely components were created by Sue Kennedy of SueBeads.  Sue is an amazing glass artist, and if you are familiar with my work, you will see that she is one of my favorites!  Her beads are always consistent and lovely! Expecting nothing less for the challenge components, I was thrilled and excited to receive mine!

I have to admit, I went through about 5 designs before I decided on a necklace, but once I decided it would be a focal pendant on a chain, it sort of made itself!

I had an etched brass disk, just waiting to be used, and I decided I wanted the pendant to also be a toggle, so I punched out a 1/2 inch hole with my disc cutter, then riveted the lovely bead with one of my double headpins swirled around in the back.  To bring out the pretty purple Sue edged the bead with, I dangled a small amethyst briolette from the bottom.

Unfortunately, I didn't punch in the spot I had measured and it sort of hangs a bit wonky, so I may have to play around with figuring out how to fix!

There you have it!  Go check out what others at AJE and the winners of Sue's component giveaway came up with!


Guest Bloggers

Lorelei Eurto   http://www.lorelei1141.blogspot.com/
Birgitta Lejonklou   http://lejonklou.blogspot.com/
Heidi Post   http://www.expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com/
Lola Surwillo   http://beadlolabead.blogspot.com/
Kay Thomerson   http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

AJE Team

Jennifer Cameron  http://glassaddictions.com/
Jenny Davies-Reazor   http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Susan Kennedy   http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig   http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/
Melissa Meman    http://melissameman.blogspot.com/
Rebekah Payne   http://www.treewingsstudio.com/
Jo Tinley     http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/
Lesley Watt    http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/

AJE Component of the Month Blog Hop - April Edition!

Hello out there!!  Today's post showcases lovely lampwork headpins, created by our fearless leader over at Art Jewelry Elements...Jennifer  Cameron of Glass Addictions.

I was thrilled to receive 2 pale blue transparent headpins with swirled copper wire inside!  You know me and swirls!  She indicated that we didn't have to use both headpins, but how could I resist?

I have been holding onto some special brass flowers to add to my enamel arsenal, and I decided they would be the perfect component to pair with the headpins.  I enameled them in a base of robin's egg blue, then dusted some orchid into the folds and torched.  Then, for good measure, added a bit of transparent raspberry!  I totally love how these turned out and have a few more sets of these that I will be playing with and offering for sale.

I decided to make some tiny caps for the headpins in the same orchid/raspberry hue.

Finished with some of my hand-wrought sterling and copper earwires, and embellished with Czech glass flowers, these awesome earrings measure about 2.25 inches.

Thanks for stopping by to see my creation!  Go see what everyone else came up with...you'll be glad you did!

Guest Designers:

Erin Prais-Hintz

Kathy Lindemer

Alice Peterson

AJE Team:

Susan Kennedy

Francesca Watson

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Melissa Meman...you are here!

Linda Landig

Jen Cameron

AJE Component of the Month for March

Better late than never!  Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to post my piece using Jo Tinley's wonderful hollow copper bead on Monday, but I perservered and finally have a finished piece.

Here is a gander of what Jo sent us...aren't they wonderful!  I would like the whole handful!

I kept it simple, but I wanted the bead to be the focal, so I encircled it with a copper washer that I texturized to match the bead.  I embellished with a pretty orphan lampwork bead by Sue Kennedy, some Swarovski crystals in Palace Green Opal, and some fluted copper beads, all wired to copper chain.

Jo sent some sweet little heart charms as well and I added one as a dangle underneath the focal.

Sorry I was late to the party, but I had fun creating it.  If you haven't already seen what others created  using these fab beads, go now!

Carolyn (Carolyn's Creations)

Jess Green

Niky Sayers

Jo Tinley

Jennifer Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Kristen Stevens

Francesca Watson

Lesley Watt

Thanks for stopping by...I know I have been pretty sporadic in blogging, but we all have lives to live, right?

February AJE Component of the Month...

This month's gorgeous component is by the fabulous jewelry designer, Francesca Watson!

I received a lovely  pink one!  Being addicted to torch-fired enamelling myself, I really appreciate the work Francesca put into these...those little fine silver pebbles are such a sweet element!

My inspiration was a necklace I made for my sister recently (no photo, of course) that has a front toggle closure with the focal hanging from the loop, and extra chain attached to the toggle to hang down behind the focal with more embellishments.  I had hoped to do something similar, adding additional enameled components...alas, it is still a work in progress.

I created a sterling toggle clasp and attached the component.  I cut some copper discs in 2 different sizes, dapped and curled the edges, then enameled them in pretty pastels to complement the pink...Easter colors!  Using sterling balled headpins, I attached them to copper chain

It looks great lying down for picture taking, but the discs don't hang correctly when on.  I am going to exchange the sterling wrapped link holding the toggle to the chain with a small copper jump ring, so that it will be closer to the chain and not so wiggly, and adjust the discs so they hang better.  I have already started taking it apart and realized it was not going to be done by today, but wanted to show you my concept...which will probably be completely different when it is done!

Go and see what others created out of these lovely enameled discs...

Participating AJE Contributors

Kristi Bowman-Gruel - http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com/2013/02/aje-february-component-of-month-reveal.html

Jenny Cameron - http://glassaddictions.com

Jenny Davies-Reazor - http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Susan Kennedy - www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Linda Landig -  www.LindasBeadBlog.com

Melissa Meman - http://melissameman.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Francesca Watson - http://www.francescawatson.com

Guest Designers

Dawn Horner - http://www.northernadornments.com/

Kym Hunter - http://kymhunterdesigns.blogspot.com/

Kay Thomerson - http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

Shelley Graham Turner - http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/

Sandi Volpe - http://sandivolpe.com/

Spring "Pie"...AJE January Component of the Month

Art Jewelry Element's January Component of the Month Blog Hop is today!  Our gorgeous components this month came from Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  All us folks over at AJE dubbed these "pie" beads!  They are definitely yummy, and yesterday,  Karen gave us a look at how she actually makes these hollow beads!

When Karen first posted a pic of the beads, several of us tagged the actual one they wanted to work with and I chose the salmon-y pinkish one all the way to the right, fourth row down!

I decided right away that I wanted to make a bracelet, but almost changed my mind at the last minute...of course, I procrastinated, then caught a bug from my boys, so here I am at the last minute again!

I love the color of the glaze on this bead...as I said before, it is sort of salmon pink...with just a twinge of peach.  I decided to use Design Seeds and search for a palette to help me out.  I fell in love with a few...you can see the ones I chose on my Pinterest board, but I actually sort of took ideas from all of them, as you can see!

I used some of my enamel components, copper, and Czech glass to pull it together.  I am really happy with my "bouquet" of flowers component.  Copper toggle clasp handmade by me as well!

Go and see the beautiful creations everyone else made...here's the links to our participating blogs:

Shirley Moore
artZhodgepodge
Boot-C
Jennifer Cameron
KristiBowmanDesign
Diana Ptaszynski
Kristen Stevens
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Lesley Watt
Francesca Watson
Melissa Meman
Joanne Tinley
Linda landig
Sue Kennedy

February's COM will be created by Francesca Watson!  Stay tuned to see what lovelies she has come up with!!


 

December AJE Component of the Month...Labyrinth

Good morning, all...just getting in under the wire to still say that!  Happy New Year's Eve!

One of the cool perks of being a contributor for Art Jewelry Elements is getting to participate in the Component of the Month challenges.  Each month, one of the AJE members offer a selected component and create a limited number for members who want to participate, a few to giveaway to random commenters, and of course some in their shop for anyone else to join in the fun.

This month, our hostess is Jenny Davies-Reazor, who creates amazing ceramic pieces. She designed these amazing, colorful labyrinth pendants.  We had our choice of color and the number of holes.  I felt drawn to the 3-holed ones. Here is what I came up with...

I had a piece of leather with sterling ends already for a necklace that I never got around to using and thought it would add to the rustic charm of the pendant.  I went through several designs, however, and nothing really latched on.  Originally, this was going to be mostly leather, with a couple of beads, and a front clasp, but the leather was not cooperating.  I ended up using these gorgeous Czech glass beads in a mulberry and black, from ArteBella Surplus.  By the time I got it looking the way I wanted, it was so long, I decided to 86 the clasp altogether, so it slips right over your head!

I may go back and ditch the leather as well, and incorporate some more silver and maybe some chain...I think I will live with it for a couple days and decide!  What do you think?

Here is a list of the other participants...please go and see what lovely pieces they created!
This months guests of honor:

Emma Todd

Lee Koopman

Jess Green

And participating AJE team members: 

Jen Cameron 

Kristi Bowman

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Lesley Watt

Francesca Watson

Melissa Meman...me

Jo Tinley

Linda Landig

Sue Kennedy

Jenny Davies-Reazor, your hostess